One of the main reasons my mom and I are together for the last leg of my trip, is because my moms side of the family comes from a little town in Iowa - called Zwingle. We headed their Saturday afternoon in search of some family history. When we got to Zwingle. . . We laughed about how small it was. It's about 3 blocks long, population 93. We were looking for the church my great, great, great, great grandpa founded. The only businesses on the 3 block strip are a bar, post office and church, so it wasn't hard to find. The church was locked, so we went into the Cemetery and found our relatives. FC Bauman ( my great 4x grandpa) and his wife have a headstone closest to the church. He was the Reverend of United Harmony Church of Christ from the late 1800s until 1905. We also found my great great grandma (his great granddaughter), Blanch Estella (who my sister Hannah Estelle) was named after. Grandma Estella was the organist for the church.
While we were walking around the graveyard, a dog started barking at us from the neighbors house. A young boy came out and apologized, saying the dog was very protective of the graves. I asked him about the church, and he said "Well, my dad is the pastor, hang on." Perfect!
Pastor Stuart was so wonderful! He was welcoming, and spent time showing us around the church and giving us some history. Stuart had read our grandpa's journal - he was reverend from 1859-1905, and made 75 dollars per year!
While looking through records, we found old documents, another one of our grandpas journals, and he even gave us copies of big black and white pictures of our Grandma Estella playing the organ!
We felt super blessed to be there, sitting and learning in part of our history. That evening my mom and I went to Dubuque, to spend the night. We spent a lovely evening walking along the Mississippi, listening to some live music over wine, and hanging out a a roadside motel. We even went to a casino to bet 5 bucks. my mom had never been before, and she won 7 bucks! All in all- we had an amazing day!
Zwingle! We found it!
My mom and Pastor Stuart looking through pictures
That's my great, great grandma Estella playing the organ!
Dangling our feet over the Mississippi
My ancestors, and church founders, FC Bauman and Elizabeth Cort
Stained glass window dedicated to our grandpa
My mom winning at the casino!
Our grandparents with the church
With my great, great grandma Estella.
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